Scary close call swimming in the lake

[craddock 0]

I am still stunned over what happened today. Over confident in the water. Grew up in it. Never has stamina or desire to compete at speed, especially in longer swims, but yet have always felt I could swim all day(or night) with the appropriate pace. Swam across many rivers and out to islands through the years.

So today I come across a bridge on a lake I know as well as anyone around and see a boat floating out in front of the boat launch. I turn around and find an older gentlemen waiting for help that had it float out after he launched and parked his truck. He was waiting for someone else to use the launch to help him. I had access to boats in the vicinity but thought I would just swim out rather than borrow a boat and uncover and recover just to save some exercise. There was still ice on the lake around the beginning of May but the dark stained water even though a rather deep lake warms up quickly. I had heard surface temp was already 70 several days ago.

Well anyway with a little time wasted contemplating and throwing a pair of swim trunks on that I happened to have with I let the boat get out a bit further with a strong wind blowing out. I set a decent pace but at the boat got out far enough to get into the wind I was not making up as much ground. Starting to really struggle unexpectedly I made it to a buoy and grabbed a hold to rest and re-access the situation. The boat was so very much closer than shore at this point but was running away. The buoy was hard to cling to and I was still expending energy and had to make a decision and with the thought of a race into the large part of the lake and undetermined if I could set a strong enough pace to catch it I decided to turn around an go the long way back to the shore(into the wind).

Well I am writing this so obviously I made it but even 5 feet from the dock I could have used a life ring or throwable. I could not stand up. I was dizzy. I had a massive head ache(I do not get headaches), my HR was screaming. Rolling over to my back to do a back stroke and rest on the way in became a concern in itself just with the timing of the switch and my heavy breathing. I was so on the edge I could not afford to intake any water with a simple mistake. WTF? I have always been a strong swimmer. This was a haul but should never have been an issue.

I factor in my lack of nutrition the past 48 hours and my blood sugar being far off possibly, the fact that I have to admit that at 40 and not racing mx anymore nor doing the training that went with that I am not who I once was, the temp of the water possibly although it didn't feel bad.

All in all it wouldn't have been the worse place to go being all the time I spent on that lake but I am shocked that I got myself into trouble. I really have always thought when I hear drowning stories that it just couldn't happen to me.

Drowning can happen to anyone!! Be careful and don't let your inner ego bite off more than you can chew. Something went wrong today and I don't fully understand it but it just shows how complacent and cocky I was after not sitting around getting out of shape over the long winter

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

Could it have been anxiety/stress related? I only ask that because I was on a dive where someone had an anxiety attack 100' deep and they described the symptoms the same way. They swore they were going to have a heart attack.

I'm really glad to read you're ok.

Always be kinder than you feel.

[craddock 0]

idk? I don't know where it would come from at least. I have not been prone to it in adrenaline situations in the past at all. Lack of panic has allowed me to push my limits through the years and put myself into situations like this. (I don't mean that to sound conceited just answering) Perhaps once I got into trouble though it did come into play on the way back. I was in pain for some time later though. Felt like blood sugar and lack of fitness. Really stressed my heart. Guessing hr was 180+ based on what I used to see on the treadmill all the time at 165. But again that was 4 years ago

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

craddock

idk? I don't know where it would come from at least. I have not been prone to it in adrenaline situations in the past at all. Lack of panic has allowed me to push my limits through the years and put myself into situations like this. (I don't mean that to sound conceited just answering) Perhaps once I got into trouble though it did come into play on the way back. I was in pain for some time later though. Felt like blood sugar and lack of fitness. Really stressed my heart. Guessing hr was 180+ based on what I used to see on the treadmill all the time at 165. But again that was 4 years ago

Doesn't sound conceited to me at all. You know your own body better than anyone. I don't think I've ever truly had a panic attack but I know I've gotten a bad headache after particular stressful situations but not something physically taxing unless it was really, really hot and humid outside (that's the MS reminding me it's there). Hopefully, one of our resident doctors will pop in and give you some insight.

Always be kinder than you feel.

[yoink 321]

craddock

But again that was 4 years ago

It sounds callous, but it's not meant that way.

Getting old?

I know I have to work out regularly just to stay at a level of fitness that would require no effort just a few years ago now.

[Amazon 7]

yoink

*** But again that was 4 years ago

It sounds callous, but it's not meant that way.

Getting old?

I know I have to work out regularly just to stay at a level of fitness that would require no effort just a few years ago now.

I know I am... What I could once do with ease now is out of reach.

This is the penalty for surviving this long

[Krip 2]

Not a Dr but it sounds like a simple case of OLD.

It can happen to anyone that doesn't keep in shape and assume's they can still do the same thing they did last year, this year.

Glad to hear Craddock made it. And thanks for telling us what happened I think there's a valuable lesson to be learned here.

Read the incident reports about people that didn't make it, doing the same stuff they had gotten away with in the past. What changed? Reflexes, timing, age etc.

One Jump Wonder

[craddock 0]

yoink

It sounds callous, but it's not meant that way.

Getting old?

I know I have to work out regularly just to stay at a level of fitness that would require no effort just a few years ago now.

Not callous at all. And quite appropriate most likely. Just fell off way harder than I could have imagined. My last injury last summer was a severe shoulder dislocation that finally started to come around in March and the injury came at an era in my life that apparently I could not afford to sit idle. So today I learned that I am no longer an athlete!

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[Bertt 0]

You might look at your own sig line. Going against the wind is incredibly harder than going with the wind. The fact that you made it back indicates you've still got a young man's body. The fact that you went out at all indicates you've still got a young man's mind.

You don't have to outrun the bear.

[CSpenceFLY 1]

This should be cross posted into the prop strike thread, since there are so many people that think THAT could never happen to them.

[peek 20]

Excellent post! And thank you for reminding us all that we should remember that we are not as young as we once were. I think about swimming emergencies now and then, and how good of a swimmer that I could say I now am.

I used to swim and dive in every old swimming hole that anyone was using, and I used to be a lifeguard, competitive swimmer and water polo player in high school. But those were the old days! I'm quite sure that very cold water would affect me more now too.

[craddock 0]

I want to apologize for not proof reading. I was not 100% mentally when I had wrote that although that is no excuse. Spelling errors changing the tense of a verb or changing an "as to an "at", poor punctuation at times leaving confusing sentence structure, poorly placed adverb leaving it confusing which phrase it should be applied to are some of the examples that made the post hard for me to read today. If it is hard for the one that composed it to read I can't imagine what it was like for others.

Sorry

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[crapflinger2000 1]

Dude I know the feeling from an incident last summer.

Difference is I am not a strong swimmer and am out of shape. But still, wading / swimming out to some rocks out at Tahoe should not be TOO taxing, right?

Made it out ok but the trip back to shore kicked my ass.

Panic started to set in as I tried to make it, gulping down water. I had to revert back to my USMC boot camp "aqua-rock" basic water survival floating techniques, forcing myself to calm down. I had to tell myself, "Dude, you are NOT going to drown at frickin Lake Tahoe, within sight of your 15 month old boy".

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What would Vic Mackey do?

[SkyCoi 0]

Another thought is an underlying medical issue that has impacted your stamina. Other than getting old, of course

In my late thirties I was a runner and big wall climber when I was diagnosed with heart problems that resulted in surgery. Leading up to that diagnosis I had been struggling with maintaining stamina, but had chalked it up to age and just tried to train harder. It took breaking my wrist before I ever went to the doctor, and I just mentioned the stamina issues in passing to him. A cardiologist appointment (and 2nd opinion) led to surgery in less than 30 days.

I guess my point is to never take your body for granted. Shit happens inside there that sometimes takes awhile to manifest itself. Consider getting youself a physical if you haven't had one in awhile and talk to your doc about it. Glad that you're ok, and thanks for passing on your story.

[craddock 0]

Skycoi- That is an interesting perspective. My heart is already sore from the event but reading that makes me aware of it more. Probably like finding a tick and then feeling them all over you. Doing lunges this spring was met with very high HR although I have had a very high heart rate during anaerobic exercises for some time.

Crapflinger- I do not know what skills you learned in Basic for technique but I was going to my back repeatedly to try and lower heart rate and focus on breathing. I was very confused why I was so winded though, so with questioning if water temp had anything to do with it I did not conclude in the heat of moment that I should just purely float and give up time so my moments on my back had some leg input as well and I just let my upper rest. Not enough to lower hr substantially. As I said earlier I was even becoming concerned with the rotation from back to front. I used to pride myself at the distance I could cover under the water after a dive so this was a highly unusual feeling.

Thank everyone for the comments. I really needed someone to tell and the feedback was just what I needed. One of my best friends who does little exercise was the second to see me as I staggered in shortly after was in disbelief at my situation. He wrote it off as a fluke and clearly didn't learn anything from it. He was bragging how he could swim across the lake easily as I am explaining to him I almost couldn't get back 20 minutes ago. It probably/hopefully was just old age with a young mans ego. I set too hard a pace in the early stages and was just not able to recover and rest in the water like I have all my life. That lake has tried to take my life(or I tried to let it) a couple times but never from swimming. It would have been a fitting end for sure and there would have been a few told ya so(s) going on for how hard I played on that body of water year round. That was another thought that crossed my mind. The other time I had those thoughts was coming into 500 ft with main cut and reserve pillow not where it was supposed to be.( a chain of events that would be hypothesized in incidents but no one would have known the entire chain)

The feeling of knowing people will take solace they were right about your demise is not a great feeling to have while your fighting for your life. That much I can say for absolute certainty!!

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[crapflinger2000 1]

Yeah exactly, floating on my back. But that was not super helpful either as it is one thing to float in a calm pool, quite another to float in a choppy lake with water splashing over your face intermittently.

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What would Vic Mackey do?